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Topic: Saison de Noel (Read 3897 times)

With the holidays around the corner I am planning a saison de noel for my holiday brew this year. I'm looking to have a pretty high OG ~1.070-1.080. Ive done a little research on typical recipes and this is what I've come up with thus far:

I'm a little up in the air with the yeast selection as I have not brewed this style before. I enjoyed the Ardennes strain in a belgian IPA but not sure how it would do in this particular brew. Suggestions?

I made my first Saisons this summer and used Wyeast 3711 French Saison and really liked it. Haven't used any other Saison style yeasts, so I have no comparison, but I really liked 3711.

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Jeremy Baker

"An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience." - Mitch Hedberg

Whatever you do , do NOT use the Dupont yeast (WLP 565, not sure of the WY equivalent), unless you want to repitch US-05 or champagne yeast when it stalls on you.

I have had fantastic results when using "saison II" or WL 566. Not sure if the WY strain above is the equivalent or not, but it is a great attenuator and gives excellent saison characteristics without corainder or other adjunct additions.

With that much munich, you might consider mashing even lower. Jamil suggests 148 to get it as dry as possible (to his point, I have had many saisons that are simply not dry enough). 75 min mash is a good idea as you state.

Jamil also says it is a good idea to pitch good, healthy, viable yeast, but do not overpitch (he suggests making the starter the morning of your brew day), so you can get some growth.

I really like the flavors of the Dupont strain (WLP 565) but I do hate waiting the month or so for it to finish. It usually goes for about 2 weeks, stalls for another 2 weeks, then starts going again. I really like the finishing power of Wyeast 3711 (French Saison) but I don't think it has the depth of flavors that I like in my Saisons (3711 has more pepper flavor to me than anything else).

So, I came up with the idea to pitch both yeasts at the same time and have been very happy with the results. I get a Saison that finishes in a decent amount of time and has the flavors I want. I harvest the yeast, wash it, and reuse it for several generations so the cost per batch is not that bad.

I find that 566 doesn't produce as much of the spicy esters that 565 does. I much prefer 565 over 566, but as Drew indicated, one must keep the fermentation on the warm side to help it finish properly. If you pitch an adequate, yet healthy quantity of yeast, and maintain the fermentation at 72-75F (some folks like it to ferment this yeast in the 80's), the beer should ferment out.